New study: More spent on immigration enforcement than on FBI, DEA, ATF combined

The United States spends more to enforce immigration laws than it does on running the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, the ATF and the U.S. Secret Service -- combined.

In fact, according to a new report on immigration enforcement released today, the U.S. spends $18 billion on immigration enforcement, $4 billion more -- or 24 percent -- than the $14.4 billion spent on the other agencies.

The report from the Migration Policy Institute came out with 52 findings -- and at the top of its list was the dollars spent on enforcement: "The U.S. government spends more on its immigration agencies than on all of its principal federal law enforcement agencies combined."

The report was released amid discussions of an overhaul to immigration laws in Washington D.C. On Monday, immigration reform leader U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) was in Chicago with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Gutierrez repeatedly cited that the United States has spent $18 billion on enforcement. Both Gutierrez and Ryan argued that it makes economic sense to revise its rules on enforcement.